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Conspiracy in Tunnel B12
Conspiracy in Tunnel B12 The following quest was run by Francis on Saturday 31st of March 2012. Participants were: Connor (Sorcerer), Cohen (Monk), Toby (Barbarian), Hayden (Rogue) and Ewan (Cavalier). The following account of events was submitted by Francis. As usual the party is seated at their table in the One-Eared Bugbear tavern . While enjoying a well earned rest by the evening fire, local celebrity adventurer Prime and his retinue showed up and started bragging about their latest adventure and shouted the tavern drinks. While the party pretended to listen to the story, they spotted Henry, Alistaire Goodman ’s right hand man enter the tavern and make a bee line for their table. The paladin Prime made a quick joke at Henry’s expense but was not received well by the patrons of the tavern. Henry ignored the Paladin and continued to the party’s table. Once there, Henry informed the group that his master wished to see them in the morning at first light. With this the group agreed to meet in the morning as requested. Meanwhile the party was joined by a new adventurer today, a young Halfling Caviler seeking his fortune in the city of Grey . The group did their best to welcome and get to know him. The following morning the party got up and made their way to the Keep of Grey . All wondering what the summons could mean. Thick rain clouds hovered above the city as the group stood in front of the Keep of Grey. Waiting for them is Henry and some guards, who raise the portcullis and ushers the group through. The Sorcerer Ponsonby is surprised to see Henry personally waiting for the group and questions him; however, Henry remains silent on the issue as he leads them to Alistaires office. Upon entering Alistaires office the group is confronted with a visibly stressed out woman animatedly speaking to an equally stressed out Alistaire. Their conversation stopped as soon as the characters entered, but not before the words “deal with it or it’s your head ‘rat-catcher’” are heard. After a gruff greeting from Alistaire and a brief moment to allow the group to settle in his office he began to inform them of the situation. At some point in the previous evening there'' was a slight incident in the sewers and a city guardsman was killed by an Otyugh during a routine patrol in Tunnel B12 with the sewer night master. The night master made it out and reported the incident to the Steward of the Keep, at this Alistaire introduced the woman standing next to him. One Linsau Mysenne , she was described as wearing court official robes with chestnut hair, gray eyes and slightly pointed ears. The Steward believed that having a rogue Otyugh killing off guards would make people question the effectiveness of their role in protecting the citizens of Grey. As such, Alistaire had been requested to deal with the issue at hand immediately and quietly. It was understood the group had some experience in the sewers and based on previous performance he had requested their presence. Alistaire offered the group, 400gp for the creature’s hide. The party was a little disappointed with the reward at first, but was always happy to work for Alistaire. It wasn’t long before they wondered as to the reasons why the Otyugh would have attacked seemingly at random. After discussing with Alistaire possible reasons, the characters were informed then that Alistaire and the steward only knew as much as the sewer night master told them. So, it was suggested they seek out Cahei Rujad the night master at the “Rakers Pit ”. Located on the eastern wall; this place is where all the cities sanitation duties are run from. The party arrived at the pit which resembled a large 10ft high walled well. Two wooden ramps lead to the top. Next to the pit was a wooden shack; a dozen dirty looking workers milled about the front door. Carriages came and went, dumping waste in a pile to be hauled over the city wall by a crane-like contraption. Speaking to the workers, they learned that Cahei was changing over with the day master and would be out soon. After a few moments the door to the shack opened and the party was presented with a portly man in dirty work clothes. Ponsonby took the lead and asked the man if he could point them to a “Cahei Rujad?” The man looked warily at the characters and replied “who wants to know?” After Ponsonby informed the man of their quest, he rudely exclaimed that he was Cahei and had finished his duties and wished to leave for home. The characters pressed him to tell them what happened in the sewers and with some “persuasion” informed them that he had been escorting a city guard when they heard a noise. The guard went ahead to investigate when Cahei heard a scream and splashing. At this, Cahei came around the bend to see the guard lying in the waste and an Otyugh running off. With that he returned to the surface and immediately informed the steward of the situation. As the characters listened to his story, Mathias and Seeks-More noticed that Cahei was sweating, despite the comfortable weather and storm clouds hovering above. Both came to the instant conclusion he may be hiding something. Seeks-more reached out and placed a hand on Cahei and speaking carefully and without malice, reminded Cahei that the truth won’t hurt. This was all that was needed and Cahei broke down and blabbed to the party all he knew. He told them about a strange man he had been selling sewer maintenance schedules to and how they met once a week in the second atrium of sewer tunnel B12. Further, he told them that the guard must have followed him down and had surprised them. Cahei’s contact killed the guard and he ran fearing for his life. Realizing the trouble he was in he fabricated the story of the Otyugh attack and changed the guards’ roster. There was not much more he could tell the group, other than the man he was dealing with wore a red cloak and was gaunt looking and appeared sickly. With a quick discussion the group decided to drag Cahei back to Alistaire’s office with the new information. Cahei did not go quietly and had to be cautioned by Seeks-More on the way. Entering Alistaire’s office for the second time that morning, the party relayed what they had learned and had Cahei confirm it. Alistaire considered this new information carefully before telling the group to continue into the sewers and find out what is going on. He told them that if they were successful he would give them an extra 600gp on top of the original bounty offered. When asked by the group why he wished them to pursue the quest, he replied that wanted to show up the Steward and her guards. The team made their way over to the tunnel after leaving Cahei with Alistaire to face whatever judgment was deemed necessary. With artificial light and dark vision the characters splashed through the sewer entrance of tunnel B12. In a few moments they came to an open central court, from which 3 tunnels led off. From their vantage point it appeared to be safe, however the barbarian “Seeks-More” opted to go first. Sliding into the water, he found it was incredibly deep and could not touch the bottom. Here he was able to see a metal hook bolted into the centre of the brick ceiling and the rogue was able to swing his grapple hook up onto it. Whilst this happened, Seeks-More checked out the tunnel to the left and found it to be full of debris. It did not look like anyone had come through this way recently. Next he checked the middle tunnel and found it to be clear, the group decided to continue down this path. Cautiously the party swam through the muck to the other side, using the rope in the ceiling to help keep them afloat. When it came time for the cavalier, misfortune struck. The Halfling sunk beneath the water, his armour too heavy for him to swim. The barbarian did not hesitate and jumped in to rescue the cavalier and brought him the other side. With all safely in the next tunnel, they continued. The group waded through the next tunnel, carefully scanning up ahead as they went. Suddenly they hear an unusual scuttling sound; coming towards them is a Drain Spider Swarm. The party was defenseless as the creatures crawled over the barbarian and cavalier, then the monk and sorcerer. The cavalier, thinking quickly used his tower shield to begin squishing the horrors as the goliath dived to the floor and began rolling. The sorcerer attempted to use his acid splash cantrip but was unable to damage them. The monk began jumping up and down, crushing the spiders beneath him. Fortunately the rogue was out of any danger. In less than a minute the group killed enough spiders to disperse the swarm and was then able to move on. Moving quickly along, they found themselves in another sizable chamber. About 60ft left to right, 20ft across and 5ft deep. On the opposite side, the sewer system continued with another tunnel. The water did not look very deep here, with some refuse piled up in the left corner. Seeks-More stepped down in the reservoir first, quickly looking about for any dangers but detecting none. The rest of the group moved down as well; the sorcerer casting detect magic as he did so. Other than some faint hues emanating from the rouge the only other glow came from the pile of refuse, similar to the aura of a mana crystal. Several members of the group had previously explored parts of the sewers before, so they were quite wary of the pile. The cavalier approached, but did not get within a few steps when he was zapped by an unknown source. The Halfling took stock of the situation, with nothing else occurring or any obvious threat he stepped forward; Nothing. Taking another step and then another with still no attack imminent, he finally stood at the mound. The rest of the group, bar Seeks-More who continued to stand watch at the tunnel intersection, moved toward the refuse assured that there were no dangers. Suddenly they too were zapped by whatever power had attacked the cavalier. With no more interruptions the group was able to look closer at the mound and discovered the remains of the dead guard. Searching the body they were able to ascertain that the man had been stabbed in the back; his sword still sheathed. Further searching revealed a small amulet dedicated to the god Torag. The sorcerer indicated that the Mana crystal was not on the body, but hidden beneath the refuse. Brushing the debris aside, the cavalier found a large clutch of unusually sized eggs. The disturbing sight called the group to contemplate the power of the mana crystal and its corrupting influence on local flora and fauna. Not wishing to tarry longer than necessary, in case whatever laid the eggs returned, they left and continued down the next tunnel. This tunnel descended at a mild angle for several yards, at its end another Atrium; much larger than the first became visible. A considerable amount of refuse was piled up here. Their eyes quickly picked out the Otyugh in amongst the sewage. Immediately they saw that it was limping amongst the filth; apparently not aware of their intrusion. Carefully entering the atrium the group announces their presence to the Otyugh. It appears to be the same one some of the group encountered a few weeks ago. The creature apparently recognizes them and request assistance. Mathias the rouge gives the creature his only healing potion to help ease its pain. In stilted common the creature thanks them and tells of intruders down the right passage way. With nothing more to be learned from the creature, the party leaves it be and makes their way down the next tunnel. This tunnel was tighter than the previous, leaving barely enough room for the goliath to stand upright. They were all forced to walk in single file. After a minutes walk the tunnel widened out into a great chamber. There was very little waste here, with several wooden tables set up around the place. On the tables were weapons, armour, potions, scrolls and parchments. On the walls scratched into the mud an alien language could be seen. Off to the left, was another tunnel with a large grilled gate hanging open. As before the group cautiously enter, the dwarven monk inspecting the stone craft here and found it to be of human design, but older than the cities foundations.'' Approaching the tables they searched through and claimed some weapons, though most were considered of little use to the characters needs. The sorcerer spent some time identifying any all magical items, including several potions and scrolls. Unfortunately they appeared to be of a power level beyond his. While this was going on, Mathias inspected the parchments and found several images depicting a strange ringed device with humanoid figures within. The device appeared to be powered by mana crystals, though all the writing was in a strange language. Another piece of parchment found, was written in something familiar to the characters by still indecipherable. Finished with their inspections they were about to search the next tunnel when they heard a noise coming from the dark passage. Thinking quickly the group split up and hid around the chamber. The cavalier hid under a table, the goliath and monk behind the grate, the sorcerer and rogue attempted to hide within the corners of the chamber. There they waited for only a moment, when several figures emerged into the area. Six men and women, all sickly and gaunt looking followed by two strange looking, otherworldly beings. They were made out to be two Kaayven and six Kaayven Thralls . The goliath chose this time to act, as the strangers were stepping through the tunnel into the chamber, Seeks-More attempted to slam the grate shut on them. His muscles bulging he found he could not move it an inch. Unfortunately this caused some noise and alerted the enemy to the groups’ presence. Swiftly the Kaayven thralls moved into a circular position in the middle of the chamber and the Kaayven ran. Seeks-More, hearing a mechanical sound and seeing the grate begin to close, moved into the tunnel to pursue the Kaayven. The rest of the group made advances on the Kaayven thralls. From out of the air, a series of electric bolts rained down on the heroes and damaged them severely. Despite their best efforts the group did little damage in return and was soundly thrashed by the thralls. One by one the group began to fall. Seeks-More who had been trailing the Kaayven came around a bend in the tunnel to see the two disappear behind a hidden door. Crashing into the wall, attempted to knock it out of his away and continue his pursuit. Seeks-More found the stone wall sturdier than anticipated. By now the cries of his fallen comrades reached the barbarians ears and charged back to the rescue. The goliath barbarian arrived in time to see his comrades being felled, bellowing and opening the grate; he entered his rage and began his assault. In a battle that lasted less than a minute, yet seemed to go on for an hour, the barbarian slowly decimated the thralls and avenged the fall of his friends. After the last thrall had finally fallen, Seeks-More could see his friends needed clerical help immediately if they were to survive. Running quickly he headed back up to the surface and pressed into service a cleric. Returning to his friends with aid, he was able to revive the group. Checking themselves over and thanking the cleric, the group decided to continue down the next tunnel and hopefully catch up with the Kaayven. At the point where the goliath saw them disappear, the characters search and find that indeed there is a secret door here, but no apparent way to open it. While contemplating their course of action, the Barbarian begins smashing down the door with brute strength. After nearly half an hour he managed to break a hole through. Just then, a low watery rumbling could be heard. Above them a drain connected to another part of the sewers began flowing water down onto the group. It was decided the best course of action was to fall back as the water began to flow faster and heavier. It was believed by the group to be a trap set by the Kaayven as the water continued to flow and fill the tunnel and flood into the chamber. Quickly they made their exit as the water rose higher and higher, flooding all of Tunnel B12. Outside they could see that the flood came up onto the street level, but appeared to be contained. With no rain, it was decided that this was definitely the work of a trap. The group decided to end their day and head for the “Bug-Bear”, while planning to speak to Alistaire on the morrow. Returning to Alistaire Goodman, the group regailed him with their quest and showed him the parchements they had retrieved. He identified that the ones with the contraption were written in an ancient form of the language “Aklo” and is able to decipher fragments of it. He tells them that it refers to a group called the “Cult of the Flayer ”; otherwise it is mostly rambling nonsense about an “Illithid” messiah who will deliver the Kaayven. The other piece of parchment with more familiar writing is identified as “Aristocratic cipher ” and read as follows: : “I don’t care about your arrangement with Desmont, I hired you to equip and train my men. Your failure at the old Nardhon Fort is why you haven’t seen your gold. Do your job first, and then do whatever it is you want with Desmont and his damned contraption. I’ll send payment when I see results, not before. – Haarken” The group questioned the section of the tunnel that appeared older than the city, and Alistaire retrieved his maps of the sewer system. From this they found that although it is listed, there is no information about when it became open. This struck the group as rather odd and fueled their feelings of a conspiracy at foot. Alistaire thanked them for their work and paid them the money promised and bid them good day. Category:Quests